It's a Willowful Life
by Meltha
Summary: Willow's magic backfires yet again, and she decides it would be better if she left Sunnydale.  Someone else has other ideas. Complete.
1. Chapter One

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

It's a Willowful Life

            Willow stood at the bus stop, clutching the handle of her suitcase tightly and willing herself not to cry.  This is all for the best, she thought to herself grimly.  If you stay, what happened last night could happen again.  Only next time maybe somebody would get killed.  She blinked her green eyes ferociously in an attempt to keep her tears from falling.  Leaving Sunnydale was her only choice.

            Suddenly, she was surrounded by the memory of the previous night's battle.  It had been a Barathrum, a demon fifteen feet tall with poisonous fangs, razor sharp claws, fire breath, the strength of forty humans, and a serious attitude problem.  Buffy, Spike, Xander, Giles, Tara, and Anya were crowded into its pit-like lair, fighting fiercely.  Suddenly, Willow had an idea.  She had been experimenting with a spell that would temporarily increase the Slayer's power many times over.  She decided to cast it in an effort to make battling the Barathrum a snap for Buffy.  Chanting in an ancient dialect of Greek, she had indeed managed to create the shimmering, golden cloud that was supposed to descend upon the Slayer and grant her tremendous strength.

            Unfortunately, the cloud had other ideas.  Instead of coming to rest over Buffy, it had headed straight for the demon.  Willow's eyes had grown huge as she hoped against hope that the spell hadn't worked at all and nothing would happen.  No such luck.  Instead, the Barathrum had given a tremendous roar and lashed its tail, sending half the ceiling down on top of her friends.  Fortunately, no one had been killed and the demon's power surge only lasted about five minutes.  Once the cloud faded away, a very ticked off Buffy quickly launched a wooden javelin through the creature's throat, making it collapse into a pool of its own black blood.  

Silence spread across the mostly destroyed cavern as Willow took in the damage she had caused.  Xander had a black eye and was walking with a severe limp.  There was a nasty looking gash above Anya's left ear.  Tara was cradling her right arm.  Spike's other eyebrow had a cut running through it that almost exactly mirrored his scarred one.  Giles had a bloody lip and seemed to be missing part of a tooth.  Buffy looked like one gigantic bruise.  Embarrassingly, Willow hadn't been harmed at all.

"Uh, guys, I'm really sor…" she had begun to say when a very angry English accent had cut her off mid-sentence.

"What were you trying to do?  Help the demon finish us off?  Look at this mess!  How many times have you been told not to try casting spells that are too difficult?  This is all your fault, you stupid little witch!  You're nothing more than a child playing with pretty fire – a fire that your pathetic powers could never even hope to control, by the way.  We're lucky that no one's dead, no thanks to you!"

There was a stunned silence in the chamber.

"Actually, Giles, I am dead.  But then I was when I walked in here, so that doesn't count," Spike said.  "By the way, does anyway else here think he just stole my speech?"

 Willow's jaw had hung open for several moments before she had bolted from the room, sobbing hysterically.  Of all people, she had never expected Giles to explode at her like that.  She had raced back to her dorm room, scribbled a hasty note, thrown her clothes into her suitcase and bought a bus ticket to Seattle.  Not that she knew anyone in Seattle.  In fact, that was kind of the point.  

            At last, she saw the bus pulling up to the curb.  Looking longingly at the little town that she had grown up in, the place that held everyone she loved, she took a deep breath.  When the door swung open with a gasp of air, she prepared to take her first step on her journey away from everything she had ever known.  Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

            "Just where do you think you're going?" said the last voice she ever expected to hear.  It couldn't be; it just couldn't!

            Her eyes practically bulging out of her head, she turned to look at the woman standing next to her.

            "Miss… Miss Calendar?"  she managed to squeak.

            "Well, I'm not the Easter Bunny."

            "No, because then you'd be pink and fluffy and be carrying chocolate eggs and besides that I'm Jewish and you're dead does that mean I'm dead too?" the redhead babbled in nervousness.

            "No, Willow, you're not dead.  But I still am."

            "So you're, like, a ghost then?"

            "Sort of, but not exactly.  Ghosts are spirits that get stuck here for one reason or another.  I'm here because I have a mission.  And you're it."

            It wasn't until now that Willow took a good look around her.  Sunnydale had come to an abrupt halt.  The traffic had stopped, the people were frozen in place in mid-stride, and even the bus's exhaust fumes were suspended unmovingly in the air.  

            "What's going on, Miss Calendar?"

            "First of all, call me Jenny.  You're not in high school anymore.  As for what's going on, I'm here to tell you not to leave."

            "But, you don't know what happened last night Mi… Jenny.  That stupid spell I cast almost got us all killed!"

            "I know all about that, but have you really thought what your running away is going to accomplish?  Willow, there are a lot of people who care about you in Sunnydale.  If you're trying to avoid hurting your friends, disappearing will cause every bit as much trouble as that spell."

            "They'll be better off.  I suppose some of them might miss me for a little while though," she mumbled thoughtfully.  "I don't like the idea of hurting anyone.  I suppose it would have been better if I'd just never been born."

            Jenny's eyes widened at Willow's words.  "Oh really?  Well, well, it looks like I get to play Clarence."

            "Huh?"

            "Your wish is granted.  Willow Rosenberg never existed."

            With these words a tremendous gale blew up out of nowhere, sweeping away the frozen street and surrounding Willow and Jenny in a whirlpool of swirling light and sound.  Willow was frightened out of her wits, but she couldn't help feeling that if Jenny had told her the truth, then her friends would be living much happier lives.


	2. Chapter Two

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 2

            When the wind finally died down, the two women were standing in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the town.  Without warning, a dark haired woman danced out of the shadows in the room, her blue eyes sparkling with insane joy.  Willow immediately grabbed hold of Jenny and attempted to pull her away from the approaching vampire, but her hand went right through the dead woman's arm.  She had no physical substance.

            "That's, that's, that's," Willow stuttered uncontrollably, "that's Drusilla!"

            "Don't worry, she can't see us or hear us."

            The vampire proceeded to walk directly through the pair of them.

            "See?  Nothing," Jenny replied.

            However, Drusilla suddenly came to an abrupt halt, turned around, and peered in their direction as though trying to see through a mist.

            "I feel eyes, and it's not the stars this time.  There are visitors here.  They fade in and out like vapor.  Not from around this time, are you?  Why can't I see you?  Are you made of starlight?" she asked dreamily.

            Jenny and Willow exchanged freaked out looks.

            "Don't ask me.  That's not in the rules.  I don't think she knows what's really going on, though.  Chalk it up to the insanity factor."

            Swallowing her panic, Willow made a mental note that if she ever had the misfortune to run into Drusilla again, she'd pay a lot more attention to her seemingly pointless ramblings.  It wasn't until now that Willow noticed that the room held yet another occupant.  He was sitting in a chair facing away from her, but the top of his blond head was clearly visible over its back.

            "See?  Things are kind of better without me already.  Spike and Dru are back together and probably really happy… even though that may not qualify as a good for the rest of the world."

            "Keep watching."

            "Did you miss me, my sweet?  I've been out hunting and brought you back a treat," she intoned in a child-like, teasing singsong.

            Drusilla approached the chair and took out what was probably the single most disgusting thing Willow had ever seen from the full sleeve of her red velvet dress:  a human heart.  The deceptively fragile-looking vampire offered it to the man in the chair, who finally turned in order to take the dainty Drusilla was offering.

            "That's not Spike," Willow said in confusion.  "It almost looks like… Oh goddess!  It can't be!"

            She gaped open mouthed as Xander grabbed the heart with one hand and wrapped the other around Drusilla's tiny waist, drawing her into his lap.  One swift movement changed his face into a collection of ridges and bumps as his demon came forth.  With an animal's ravenous hunger he drained the heart in an instant, then proceeded to kiss the female vampire with at least equal vigor.

            "But, he's a vampire! And he's kissing Drusilla! And he's drinking blood!" she paused in stupefied shock for a moment, then added, "And also, he's blond.  What happened?"

            "Drusilla turned him a little over a year ago.  They're quite an item."

            "But why?"  Willow's eyes were filled with tears as she hovered close to her childhood friend, horrified.

            "She was lonely and wanted a playmate.  She kept saying something about the fiery colors of the tropics…"

            "I knew those Hawaiian shirts would get him into trouble eventually.  But why didn't Buffy stop her?"

            "Xander and Buffy never became friends.  You introduced the two of them, remember?  Xander had exactly the same risk level as any other resident in Sunnydale of ending up as a late night snack, and, as you know, those aren't good odds."

            Willow couldn't take her eyes off Xander's face.  Sweet, good, wacky Xander was now one of the undead.  She just couldn't get her mind around the fact.  Also…

            "Okay, I understand the whole 'he was turned' thing, but about the hair?"

            "What can I say?  Drusilla likes her men blond."

            "Speaking of which, why hasn't Spike staked Xander yet?  I mean, you know, demon now, chip won't stand in his way."

            "Because it's hard for a pile of dust to stake somebody.  When Spike escaped from the Initiative and showed up at Giles's house, you weren't there to tell Buffy that he couldn't bite anymore.  She threw him out into the sunlight."

            "And Anya?"

            "You never kissed Xander, so Cordelia never made the wish that brought her here.  She's still a vengeance demon."

            "Look, you can take me back to the bus stop now, and I'll turn around like a good little girl and march straight back home.  Just please make everything better again," she half-whimpered at her former computer teacher.  "Please?"

            "Sorry Willow, but a bargain is a bargain.  You're stuck with this reality until you've seen everything there is to see."


	3. Chapter Three

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 3

            Slowly, the abandoned factory dissolved around the pair and was gradually replaced by the living room of the Summers's home.  At first glance everything seemed to be perfectly normal, but Willow could almost sense that something was different.  Suddenly, a very dejected Joyce came bustling into the room, a feather duster in hand, flour smeared on her nose, and a look of exhaustion on her face.  She began cleaning the room as though her life depended on it.

            "He'll be here any minute," Buffy's mother muttered to herself as she dusted with a vengeance.

            "Ooooh, who's 'he'?" Willow asked Jenny with the shadow of a smile.

            "Joyce's boyfriend.  They've been together going on five years now."

            "Let me guess.  She met a certain gentleman because he worked at Buffy's school, didn't she?"

            "Right in one."

            Willow couldn't help wondering two things.  First, why wouldn't Jenny look a little more upset that Giles was dating Buffy's mother?  The second thought was what on earth she, Willow, could have done to keep the two of them apart.  Her questions were immediately answered when the front door burst open.

            "What is that ungodly smell?" wheezed an unpleasant voice that made Willow's blood run cold.  "That had better not be my dinner."

            The redhead's eyes widened in shock as she realized who had just entered the house.  Glaring at the obviously overworked woman who had always acted more like a mother to Willow than her own mom was…

            "Principal Snyder!  What is he doing here?"

            "He lives here, Willow."

            If it had been possible for Willow's eyes to actually pop out of her head in horror, the green spheres would have been rolling on the floor like a pair of marbles.

            "Buffy's mom is living in sin with Principal Snyder!" she shrieked.  "I don't care what kind of alternate universe this is; that has got to be the sickest thing I have ever heard!"

            Jenny motioned for her to be quiet and listen to the scene before them.

            "I'm sorry, dear.  I tried to make that peppercorn steak you like, but the phone rang and the whole thing went up in smoke.  I really did try."

            "Try?" he spat out.  "That's about all you can do.  Like mother, like daughter.  Failures the both of you."

            "Buffy isn't a failure," Joyce said quietly with a spark of rebellion.

            "Oh, isn't she?  With one tiny letter to the college admission board, I can have her kicked out on her too-short-skirted behind and into the ghetto where she belongs.  You had better remember that."  

            Joyce looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead she hung her head in defeat.  "I didn't mean to upset you."

            The invisible Willow walked up to Snyder and stood only a few inches from his face.  Out of nowhere, she punched him as hard as she could in the jaw.  Her hand simply passed through his self-satisfied smirk.

            "Drusilla can figure out we're here, but I don't get to pummel that overgrown weasel?" Jenny shrugged in response.  "Why did this happen?"

            "You weren't here to tutor Buffy all through high school.  Her grades weren't hideous, but Snyder was able to convince the teachers that she should actually be failing.  Joyce went to him and begged him not to expel her daughter.  She said she'd do anything to keep her in school.  And she did."

            "I am going to be violently ill.  Wait a minute…  Buffy's out of high school, so why does Joyce keep seeing the big creep?"

            "Because he still controls her school records.  He's told Joyce that if she dumps him, he'll trump up a charge of cheating on Buffy's placement tests that will be so iron clad she'll be thrown out of college."

            "He's just the type to do it, too." Willow glowered at the man.  "Why didn't the mayor-slash-snake eat him?"

            "Snyder was in his office during graduation, falsifying records so it looked like that jock you tutored in history actually passed."

            Willow groaned.  This was getting worse by the second.  Snyder looked like he was actually preparing to kiss the poor woman.

            "Can we please leave now?" Willow squeaked with a note of panic.

            "Yeah, think I'd rather split, too," Jenny agreed with a look of intense distaste at Snyder.  "You know, compared to that guy, Angelus had a heart as pure as the driven snow."


	4. Chapter Four

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.  And I know Alabama is the wrong state, but I just liked the ambiance.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 4

            Once again Jenny and Willow were whisked away from one scene and into another.  This time, Willow didn't recognize the location at all.  She was in a ramshackle house she had never laid eyes on before.  Wallpaper peeled in strips from the hallway.  The air was uncomfortably hot and humid.

            "Where are we?" she asked.

            "Alabama."

            Suddenly, the screen door slammed into the wall as an obviously drunken man staggered into the house.  He scowled around the living room, then headed down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Beth!  Where you at?"

"Sorry, sir.  Just getting the tray together."

"Who are these people?" Willow asked, every bit as confused as when she'd first arrived.

"It's no wonder you don't recognize them.  You only met them once, and he was sober at the time."

The man reappeared carrying a tray with a scant supply of leftovers on it.  He made his unsteady way up the stairs.  Jenny motioned for Willow to follow.

The three of them arrived at what should have been a bedroom door, but the multiple locks hanging from the outside suggested differently.  No fewer than three padlocks and four deadbolts needed to be undone before the man pushed the door open.  Willow didn't get a clear view of who or what was inside.

"Supper's out.  Eat fast.  I'm takin' the tray back in five minutes, done or not."

He quickly slammed and relocked the door.

"Go in and take a look around, Willow.  The locks won't stop you."

Willow looked uncertainly at Jenny, then stepped through the closed door.  What she saw on the other side made her gasp.

"Tara!  What have they done to you!"

The girl was wolfing down the pitiful meal before her as though she hadn't eaten in days.  She looked horribly thin and malnourished.  Her filthy clothes hung on her like a scarecrow's castoffs.  Her eyes, always wide to begin with, had grown enormous with constant fear.  Her hair was lank and matted.  The only object in the room was one ragged blanket.  The window was boarded over from the outside.  Tears streamed down Willow's face as she tried to take the other girl's hand, but of course she couldn't touch her.

"When her family came to take her away from the university, no one tried to stop them.  Buffy didn't even know her name.  Her father figured out she really was a witch and panicked, locking her in.  She's been living this way for over a year.  They never allow her to go outside."

Willow swore violently.  How could anyone treat this sweet, kindhearted girl so horribly?

"Why doesn't she use a spell to get out of here?"

"She wouldn't know how.  She never had the opportunity to learn any but the simplest spells, and even they were enough to get her locked in here. Besides, she wouldn't let herself out if she did know how.  They've got her convinced that she'd turn into a demon if she was free."  Jenny looked very angry.  After all, she had been a rather powerful witch herself.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help her?"

"Not a thing.  Although I would if I could," she muttered.

The drab room began to fade away.  Willow would have stayed if she could have.  Even if she wasn't able to let Tara know she was there, she didn't want her to be left alone in that awful place.  However, Willow had no choice in the matter.  Before she knew it, another setting had surrounded her.


	5. Chapter Five

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.  

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 5

"Once again, I am of the clueless," Willow said as the unfamiliar cityscape loomed around her.  It didn't look like a very good part of town.  In fact, it looked downright skanky.  

"You'll know what's up soon.  Just keep looking."

Suddenly, a piercing scream ripped through the night air.  Whipping around, Willow saw a young woman running flat out along the alleyway behind them, her long brown hair streaming behind her.  She was closely pursued by a pair of extremely dangerous looking thugs.

"Get away from me, you jerks!"

"That's Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed as the woman almost ran her over.  "But why is she dressed like that?"

The girl who had once been the fashion queen of Sunnydale was wearing an outfit that was anything but haute couture.  At least not this season.  Her feet were encased in what appeared to be an ancient pair of orange stilettos, the heels nicked and gouged.  The hot pink Spandex skirt was shorter than any of Buffy's, which was really saying something.  Her spaghetti-strapped top was a very odd shade of blue that matched nothing in her outfit.  The heavy make-up that caked her face couldn't hide the fact she was aging remarkably fast for a woman barely twenty years old.  In short, Cordelia looked horrible from head to toe.

"She's not…" Willow began, taking in the possible implications of the outfit and the area.

"No, she's not a prostitute," Jenny replied.

Willow looked relieved.

"She's a stripper."

Willow's jaw dropped at this statement as she watched Cordelia belt the two men in the gut, making them run for cover to look for an easier mark.  Cordy was working as a… she couldn't even finish the thought.

"Okay, now how exactly is this my fault?"

"You weren't here to give Angel back his soul, so he never got spewed out of H-E-double hockey sticks.  He's still roasting on a slow spit.  Don't worry; I won't be taking you down there.  Consequently, when Cordy got to L.A., which is where we are if you haven't guessed, she never became his secretary.  Her acting career didn't exactly take off, her brain was never too great so she couldn't get a decent job, and this is where she ended up."

"Cordelia's working in a strip joint, and Angel gets to be tortured for the rest of eternity?  All because I wasn't born?" Willow asked in disbelief.

"You think that's bad, I can't even begin to show you all the people who are suffering because Angel never had the chance to help them.  We're talking literally hundreds."

"Losers," Cordelia muttered behind them.  She was looking down the alley after her two would-be muggers.  "Like they'd get a dime off me anyway." 

 Cordy looked down at her shoes and realized she'd broken one of her heels while running.  In exasperation she tried to fix it by pounding the shoe against the pavement, but she only succeeded in making the problem worse.

"Stupid shoe!  This is the only pair I've got!" she shouted as she continued to beat the heel against the asphalt, no longer trying to repair the problem but simply letting her anger get the better of her.  "What's the point anymore!"

And then she did something that scared Willow silly.  Cordelia Chase, the scourge of Sunnydale, began to cry in gut-wrenching, soul-ripping sobs.  She sat with her back to the alley's brick wall, hugging her knees to her with her bare arms and rocking forward and back in lonely pain.  There wasn't a soul around to comfort her but Willow and Jenny, and they could do nothing.

"This is terrible," Willow said as she looked with pity at the woman before her.  "Cordy and I weren't really friends, but I never wanted her hurt like this."


	6. Chapter Six

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.  

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 6

The world around them had begun to change once more.  In a moment they had left L.A. and were standing in the middle of Giles's familiar living room. The first thing Willow noticed was that every single horizontal surface in the room was covered in stacks of books.  The place was a mess.

"What happened here?  Bomb explode?" Willow couldn't help the slightly hurt and angry tone in her voice.  After all, it had been Giles who had yelled at her so violently.

"He's too busy to do much organizing anymore."  Jenny's voice held a note of wistfulness that hadn't been there in any of the other situations.  Willow knew immediately that, ghost or not, she was still very much in love with the Watcher.

Suddenly, he appeared in the kitchen doorframe.  Giles looked like death warmed over.  There were bags under his eyes that plainly showed he hadn't slept well in a very long time.  He was clutching a cup of coffee as though his life depended on it.  He made his way over to the low table in front of the fireplace, pushed aside a few tomes, and sat on the floor.  He started to pour over the volumes at once.  Willow noticed that his face was pressed very close to the pages.

"His eyes have gotten weak from straining to read so many old texts by himself.  No one was able to help him with research, and the computer, as I'm sure you know, is not an option for him," she said as she gazed at the man gently, shaking her head.  "That's all he does anymore, morning through night.  Just reads."

Giles lifted his head and blinked his eyes rapidly, rubbing his forehead as though trying to chase away a headache.  There was no sparkle in his eyes at all.  He was obviously unhappy and desperately lonely.

"But the other Scoobies always helped him out.  He's, like, everybody's friend: the one we'd all go to if we were really in trouble.  We love him."  She turned her eyes to Jenny.  "We've taken good care of him for you."

"I know," she smiled at the younger witch, "and believe me, I bless you for it.  But in this reality, none of that is the case.  You were really the one who helped Giles be accepted by the rest of the group as a friend instead of just a Watcher.  Besides, there aren't any Scoobies anymore.  Giles and Buffy are it."

Willow blinked as the reality of this statement hit her.  Jenny was right.  In this world there was no Xander or Anya, no Cordelia or Angel, no Tara.  Even Spike was gone.  

As Willow let the fact of this sink in, Jenny quietly moved closer to Giles.  She knelt next to him on the floor and studied his face.  Slowly, she raised her hand and reached her fingers towards his cheek, obviously wanting to caress him.  She didn't allow her fingertips to quite reach his skin, knowing that neither of them would feel anything and wanting to keep the illusion of possibility.  She shut her eyes in heartache.

"I look down on him often, watching over him, but I can't bear to see him like this."

Willow had watched the whole scene with tears in her eyes.  She couldn't help wondering what Giles's life might be like if Angelus had never killed Jenny.

"I didn't know.  I swear I didn't know!"  Giles suddenly shouted at no one, and he threw the book across the room.  It landed face up on the hearth.  Willow saw the title emblazoned in Gothic script on the red leather cover:  _On the Habits of Werewolves_.

"How was I to know he was a human?"  he asked himself angrily.  Guilt seemed to weigh heavily around his shoulders.

"Jenny, what happened?"   Willow had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer to her question.

"About two years ago Giles ran into Oz in werewolf form.  Because Oz didn't meet you, he didn't know what was happening to him during the full moon, so he was never confined.  I'm afraid Giles wouldn't have been his first victim.  As it turned out, Giles was forced to kill him in self-defense.  He's never been able to forgive himself since he found out that the werewolf was really a teenage boy."

"Oz is dead?  Giles killed Oz?"  Willow's face turned as white as the ghostly woman in front of her.  She knew in her heart that Giles would never want to hurt anyone, and without even stopping for a moment she had already forgiven him.  Still, her heart felt as though it had been ripped from her.  A part of her would always love Oz.


	7. Chapter Seven

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  Set sometime during Season 4.  

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 7

Mercifully, the book-strewn room began to melt away, and a moonlit cemetery took its place.  Willow looked around and realized in an instant that this was the same graveyard that she had patrolled with the Slayer countless times.  

Before Willow could say anything, Buffy appeared from behind a tombstone, fighting desperately with a newly risen vampire.  Once again, another of her friends was marked by change.  Her appearance was completely different.  She wore a grungy-looking sweat suit instead of one of her usual, well-coordinated outfits.  Not one stitch of make-up was on her face. Willow was startled to realize her hair was a mousy shade of brown. Buffy's attacks were far less polished and were completely unaccompanied by her usual lighthearted quips.  In fact, she actually appeared to be struggling.

"She won't last much longer.  One of these nights, her number will come up and a new Slayer will be called.  She nearly went crazy after Angel turned.  Without friends to support her, she simply doesn't have the strength to keep up the fight," Jenny explained as she watched the battle before them.

At long last, Buffy managed to stake the vampire and an explosion of dust showered over her.  Panting and clutching her side, she sat down on the grass.  

"She doesn't have any friends?"

"In high school she used to try to hang around with the Cordettes, but they never accepted her.  It was pitiful, really, the way she trailed after them.  She was around to be the butt of their jokes and nothing else.  Eventually even they lost interest in her, and she became a loner.  With the situation between her mother and Snyder, she didn't even want to come home at night.  She doesn't feel she belongs anywhere.  Maybe what they kept telling her in high school finally sunk in; she thinks she's worthless."

Buffy, the girl who had averted so many huge disasters, thought of herself as a failure?  It wasn't possible!  She, Willow, had always been the one everyone thought was the outsider in school.  But then, she'd had Buffy and Xander and Giles to make her feel she was important and special.  Buffy, the girl who had done more than anyone else in her life to make her feel that she was a valuable person and a good friend, was now far worse off than she had ever been.  Her eyes stung as she watched her best friend struggling to catch her breath from a fight that she should have been able to finish in two seconds with her eyes closed.  

"Are you beginning to understand why you are important to this group?  Do you see how much you've really done in your life?"

Willow nodded her head weakly as she realized she was once more outside the bus stop with the world frozen around her.

"Willow, you're going to make mistakes.  Everyone does.  There's no going through this life without occasionally slipping up.  What matters the most is that you keep trying to do what's right.  Not many people can say that.  Last night was, admittedly, a pretty big oops on your part, but your heart was in the right place.  If you were to leave, your friends wouldn't just miss you; they'd miss a part of their souls.  You have a very bright light inside you, Will.  In fact, it's one of the brightest I've ever encountered.  Give that light to them.  And by the way," she paused for a moment before smiling, "Giles is absolutely sick over what he said to you.  Don't think the rest of your friends let it pass, either.  Even Spike and Anya gave him a good tongue lashing for exploding on you like that.  Still, since he's Giles, of course he's being harder on himself than everyone else is.  Go forgive him, will you?  And give him my love."

From nowhere, the sounds of the busy street came back to her as the world began to move again.  Jenny had disappeared.


	8. Chapter Eight

Rating:  PG, just general Buffy-ish type things a-happenin'

Feedback:  I'd like that very much, thank you.

Spoilers:  If you know about Tara and Spike's Chip, you're good to go.

Distribution: Here.  If you're interested, please let me know.

Summary:  Willow's magic has backfired again, and this time she's so upset she decides it would be better if she leaves Sunnydale.

Author's Note:  To quote Bunny, "Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets his leather pants." 

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose charcters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy.  Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you.  Thank you.

Dedication:  For Joe, who is going to have a great future ahead of him.

Chapter 8

"You gonna get on, or what?  I ain't got all day here," came the bus driver's incredibly rude voice, jarring her back to reality.

"What?  Oh!  No, I'm not going anywhere.  Thanks for waiting."  Willow practically ran down the street with her suitcase, anxious to see that her friends were okay.

She didn't stop her pounding feet until she was outside Giles's.  Bursting through the never-locked door, she took in the scene around her.  Everyone had looked up at once and had momentarily frozen in their tracks.  

"I'm sorry.  Really," she said quietly.  She felt deeply ashamed of herself for trying to run away from them.  Hopefully, they would be able to forgive her.

They continued to stare at her for a moment before the entire group launched itself at her as one.  She was completely surrounded.

"Give me that!" Xander demanded as he took the suitcase out of her hand and unceremoniously dumped it in a corner of the room.  "I don't want to see you with that thing again unless you're planning on visiting Mickey Mouse!"

"We were worried and concerned over your sudden choice to run away from responsibility.  It's good you've come to your senses and returned," Anya said in a tone that sounded far more human than normal; in fact, there was a remarkably honest looking smile on her face.  

"Willow, you gave me one of the worst wiggins ever!  When I found your note back in the dorm room…" Buffy's voice trailed off and she hugged the red head tightly.  "Don't you ever go leaving me like that again!  I don't care if your magic went all ooky; you're my best friend and I'd be lost without you."

Tara quietly took Willow's hand after Buffy had released her and just smiled at her tenderly.  "I so was worried about you.  I don't want to find out what life is like without you."

You and me both, Willow silently thought.

"Someone should call Angel and Cordelia," Giles said softly.  "They've both been on the lookout for you in L.A., and they are really extremely nervous."

"Angel and Cordelia? Nervous?  About me?" Willow asked in disbelief.

"Honey," Buffy said with a grin, "Cordy actually willingly cancelled her manicure to go out and hunt for you.  As for Angel, he nearly got a severe sunburn he stayed out looking for you so late… or early, I guess."

"Yeah, well, you lot stay here and act all idiotic just because the little witch found her way back home.  I'll call the great poof.  Good excuse to get me out of this ruddy love-fest," Spike grumbled as he began to slink into the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's right, Deadboy Part Deux.  You weren't worried at all.  That's why when you heard Willow was missing last night, you ran straight out of here and informed the vampire population that if a certain person turned up dead the next day, you'd personally torture the guilty party until they begged to be staked," Xander shot at the blond.

Spike stopped dead in his tracks, spun around, gave Xander a withering glare, and continued into the kitchen.  No one saw him silently slump down the wall, practically in a dead faint of relief.  

Giles took a moment to pull Willow aside.  He wanted to apologize to her, although he wasn't certain he would forgive himself if he were in her shoes.

"Um, Willow, about what I, um, said when the, uh, spell went, um wr-wr-wrong…" Giles stuttered in embarrassment.

"You were right.  I shouldn't have been messing around with a spell I wasn't sure about.  I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"Yes, but I was completely wrong in the way I spoke to you.  You're an important part of this team, and I never should have said any of those things.  I was just frightened, although that's no excuse."

"Giles," she said as she looked into his eyes, "it's all forgotten."  She put her arms around him and gave him a warm, heartfelt hug.

"What on earth changed your mind and brought you back?" he asked her.

"It wasn't on earth.  And Giles?  Jenny asked me to give you her love," Willow said with a smile.


End file.
